Jamming protection apparatus of shift lever for vehicle

ABSTRACT

An embodiment method of operating a vehicle comprises detecting a first position of a shift lever, determining whether the first position of the shift lever is in a normal state or an abnormal state, and, in response to the first position of the shift lever being in the abnormal state, moving a detent portion of a housing relative to a contact portion of the shift lever in accordance with pre-stored position data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/284,290, filed Feb. 25, 2019, which application claims priority toKorean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0140161, filed on Nov. 14, 2018,which applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a jamming protection apparatus of ashift lever for a vehicle.

BACKGROUND

Generally, an automatic transmission, which is mounted to a vehicle is adevice that automatically and appropriately changes the gear ratio whiledriving in accordance with the driving condition, reduces the burden ofshifting while driving, which not only improves the driving conveniencebut also improves the ride comfort by facilitating starting,acceleration, and deceleration.

In the automatic transmission, a shift lever is provided on the side ofthe driver's seat to allow the driver to perform shifting to theparking, neutral, forward and reverse travel.

A conventional shift lever device is constituted by a shift lever whichis rotated in the forward and backward directions when the driverperforms a shift operation, and a body to which the shift lever isrotatably hinged.

In particular, the shift lever gives a shifting feeling when moving toeach gear position to fix the position of the shifted gear, whileallowing the driver to check whether the gear is shifted. However, ifthe operability of the shift lever is not good, the shift operation ofthe driver may not be properly transmitted to the transmission, and anuncomfortable shifting feeling may deteriorate the commerciality of thevehicle.

Further, the shifting operation must be correctly performed to a desiredgear range when the shift lever is moved, but when the shift lever isstuck or jammed due to a detent structure for giving the shiftingfeeling, a recognition error may occur. Such a recognition error maycause an accident due to a gear shift mal-operation caused by a failureof the gear shift to a desired gear position.

The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of thebackground of the present invention, and is not intended to mean thatthe present invention falls within the purview of the related art thatis already known to those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind theabove problems occurring in the related art, and the embodiments of thepresent invention provide a jamming protection apparatus of a shiftlever for a vehicle, in which during the shift lever operation, theshift lever is prevented from being stopped at an abnormal position bybeing stuck or jammed. Thus, the exact stroke of the shift lever isperformed such that the shifting is exactly performed to a desired gearrange

According to some aspect of the present invention, a jamming protectionapparatus of a shift lever for a vehicle is provided. The apparatusincludes a shift lever rotatably provided in a housing. A contactportion is provided in the shift lever and is provided with anelastically behaving bullet. A detent portion is disposed such that thebullet of the contact portion is brought in contact with the detentportion in the housing. The detent portion is moveably seated in thehousing and is provided with a grooved bottom configured such that thebullet moves over the grooved bottom when the shift lever is rotated. Abehavior generator is connected to the detent portion and is configuredsuch that the detent portion is moved by an operation of the behaviorgenerator.

The shift lever may be provided with a guide hole and the contactportion may be constituted by the bullet inserted in the guide hole tobe moveable in a longitudinal direction of the guide hole, and a biasingportion provided between the guide hole and the bullet to elasticallybias the bullet.

The housing may be provided with a receiving depression to allow thedetent portion to be seated therein and the detent portion may be formedin a shape corresponding to a shape of the receiving depression to beseated in the receiving depression, and may be provided with the groovedbottom at an end thereof with which the bullet is brought in contact.

The behavior generator may be provided to be brought in contact with thedetent portion in the housing, and may be configured to generatevibration such that the detent portion is moved in a contact directionof the bullet.

The behavior generator may be provided to be brought in contact withdetent portion in the housing, and may be configured such that thedetent portion is moved in a contact direction of the bullet throughexpansion or contraction of the behavior generator.

The jamming protection apparatus may further include a sensor configuredto detect a position of the shift lever; and a controller configured toreceive position information of the shift lever through the sensor, andconfigured such that normal state/abnormal state data according to theposition of the shift lever is pre-stored therein so as to operate thebehavior generator when the position of the shift lever is in theabnormal state.

The controller may determine whether elapsed time is longer than apreset time stored therein when the position of the shift lever is fixedafter the shift lever is rotated, and may determine whether the positionof the shift lever is in the normal state or in the abnormal state whenthe elapsed time is longer than the preset time.

When it is determined that the position of the shift lever is in theabnormal state, the controller may operate the behavior generator andthen check whether the position of the shift lever is changed, andmaintain operation of the behavior generator when the position of theshift lever is not changed.

The position of the shift lever is changed, the controller may controlthe behavior generator not to be operated, and may determine whether theposition of the shift lever is in the normal state or in the abnormalstate.

According to the jamming protection apparatus of a shift lever for avehicle configured as described above, it is advantageous in that duringthe shift lever operation, the shift lever is prevented from beingstopped at an abnormal position by being stuck or jammed. Thus, theexact stroke of the shift lever is performed such that the shifting isexactly performed to a desired gear range.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of thepresent invention will be more clearly understood from the followingdetailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view showing a jamming protection apparatus of a shift leverfor a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the jamming protection apparatus of ashift lever for a vehicle shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the jammingprotection apparatus of a shift lever for a vehicle shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinbelow, a jamming protection apparatus of a shift lever for avehicle according to an exemplary embodiment of the present inventionwill be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a jamming protection apparatus of a shift leverfor a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.2 is a view for explaining the jamming protection apparatus of a shiftlever for a vehicle shown in FIG. 1; and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showingthe control procedure of the jamming protection apparatus of a shiftlever for a vehicle shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, the jamming protection apparatus of a shift leverfor a vehicle according to the present invention includes a shift lever20 rotatably provided in a housing 10; a contact portion 30 provided inthe shift lever 20, and provided with an elastically behaving bullet 31;a detent portion 40 disposed such that the bullet 31 of the contactportion 30 is brought in contact with the detent portion in the housing10, provided with a grooved bottom 41 configured such that the bullet 31moves over the grooved bottom when the shift lever 20 is rotated, andmoveably seated in the housing 10; and a behavior generator 50 connectedto the detent portion 40, and configured such that the detent portion 40is moved by an operation of the behavior generator.

As such, this embodiment of the present invention is constituted by theshift lever 20, the contact portion 30, detent portion 40, and thebehavior generator 50 provided in the housing 10, and the shift lever 20may be configured in various manners of operation. In the description ofthe present invention, for the sake of understanding, a lever bar typegenerally used is illustrated, and the present invention is applicableto various shift levers 20 such as a dial type and a wheel type as wellas a lever bar type.

The contact portion 30 provided with the elastically behaving bullet 31is installed in the shift lever 20, and inside the housing 10, there isprovided the detent portion 40 formed with the grooved bottom 41, whichthe bullet 31 is disposed to be brought in contact with and moves over.Thus, when the shift lever 20 is rotated by manipulation thereof, thebullet 31 is moved by moving over the grooved bottom 41 of the detentportion 40, and here, the bullet 31 is elastically moved such that thebullet 31 moves over the grooved bottom 41, whereby the operating forceis generated in the shift lever 20.

In particular, in the present invention, the detent portion 40 isconfigured to be seated in the housing 10 without being fixed thereto soas to be moveable; and the behavior generator 50 is mounted in thehousing 10 to be connected to the detent portion 40 and is configuredsuch that the detent portion 40 is moved by an operation of the behaviorgenerator. Herein, the behavior generator 50 is provided to be broughtin contact with the detent portion 40 inside the housing 10, andgenerates vibration such that the detent portion 40 is moved in acontact direction of the bullet 31. In other words, the behaviorgenerator 50 may be constituted by a vibration exciter, and the detentportion 40 may be vibrated as vibration is generated in the diaphragm bya motor or solenoid operation.

Further, the behavior generator 50 is provided to be brought in contactwith the detent portion 40 inside the housing 10, and may be configuredsuch that the detent portion 40 is moved in the contact direction of thebullet 31 through expansion or contraction. In other words, the behaviorgenerator 50 may be repeatedly expanded or contracted through airinput/output such that the detent portion 40 is vibrated.

The behavior generator 50 may be applied with various means capable ofgenerating vibration in the detent portion 40, and the detent portion 40is moved in the direction of contact of the bullet 31 by the vibration,so that the bullet 31 and the detent portion 40 are momentarily spacedapart from each other to relieve a frictional force.

Thus, when the bullet 31 of the shift lever 20 is stuck in the groovedbottom 41 of the detent portion 40, the detent portion 40 is vibrated bythe behavior generator 50 so that the static friction force between thebullet 31 and the detent portion 40 is instantaneously relieved and theshift lever 20 can be normally rotated.

To be more specific to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, theshift lever 20 is formed with a guide hole 21; and the contact portion30 is constituted by the bullet 31 inserted in the guide hole 21 to bemoveable in a longitudinal direction of the guide hole 21, and a biasingportion 32 provided between the guide hole 21 and the bullet 31 toelastically bias the bullet 31.

For the sake of understanding the present invention, it is assumed thatthe shift lever 20 is formed in a lever bar shape, and the guide hole 21is formed in the shift lever 20, and the bullet 31 is elastically biasedin the guide hole 21 through the biasing portion 32 so as to be moveablein the longitudinal direction of the guide hole 21. As a result, whenthe shift lever 20 is rotated, as the guide hole 21 is rotated togetherwith the shift lever 20, the contact portion 30 is rotated, and thebullet 31 of the contact portion 30 moves over the grooved bottom 41 ofthe detent portion 40, thus realizing a clear and efficient gearshifting motion.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 2, the housing 10 is formed with a receivingdepression 11 to allow the detent portion 40 to be seated therein; andthe detent portion 40 is formed in a shape corresponding to a shape ofthe receiving depression 11 to be seated in the receiving depression 11,and is formed with the grooved bottom 41 at an end thereof with whichthe bullet 31 is brought in contact.

In other words, in the present invention, the detent portion 40 ismoveably provided in the housing 10 and must be moveable in the housing10 when the behavior generator 50 is operated. Accordingly, the housing10 is formed with the receiving depression 11 in which the detentportion 40 is seated, and as the detent portion 40 is seated in thereceiving depression 11, the detent portion can be freely moved. Herein,it is preferable that the detent portion 40 is formed in a shapecorresponding to the shape of the receiving depression 11 such that thedetent portion 40 is moveable only toward the open portion of thereceiving depression 11 in the receiving depression 11. In other words,when the shape of the detent portion 40 does not correspond to that ofthe receiving depression 11 or the size of the detent portion is muchsmaller than that of the receiving depression, the detent portion 40 maybe moved by the distance between the detent portion 40 and the receivingdepression 11 to cause an undesired behavior, and the detent portion 40may collide with the receiving depression 11 to generate noise.

Accordingly, the detent portion 40 is formed in a shape corresponding tothe shape of the receiving depression 11, and is seated in the receivingdepression 11 to be moveable only toward the open portion of thereceiving depression 11. As a result, when the behavior generator 50 isoperated, the detent portion 40 is moved toward the open portion of thereceiving depression 11, and as the grooved bottom 41 of the detentportion 40 is formed toward the open portion of the receiving depression11, the friction reduction of the detent portion 40 and the bullet 31may be efficiently performed.

The behavior generator 50 of the present invention described above maybe operated through the following control and may be controlledaccording to the flowchart of FIG. 3.

To achieve this, as shown in FIG. 2, the jamming protection apparatusmay further include: a sensor 60 configured to detect a position of theshift lever 20; and a controller 70 configured to receive positioninformation of the shift lever 20 through the sensor 60, and configuredsuch that normal state/abnormal state data according to the position ofthe shift lever 20 is pre-stored therein so as to operate the behaviorgenerator 50 when the position of the shift lever 20 is in the abnormalstate.

Herein, the sensor 60 may be constituted by a position sensor fordetecting the position of the shift lever 20; and the controller 70receives the position information of the shift lever 20 through thesensor 60, and determines the operation timing of the behavior generator50 according to the position information of the shift lever 20.

In other words, in the controller 70, the normal state/abnormal statedata according to the position of the shift lever 20 is pre-stored.Herein, the normal state stored in the controller 70 is the state wherethe shift lever 20 is positioned at a specific gear range such as theN-range, the D-range, and the abnormal state is the state where theshift lever 20 is in a position other than the normal state, and in thisstate, the bullet 31 of the contact portion 30 is jammed or stuck in thegrooved bottom 41 of the detent portion 40 and is not moved to theposition of the normal state.

Accordingly, the controller 70 operates the behavior generator 50 whenthe position of the shift lever 20 is in the abnormal state, whereby thedetent portion 40 is moved by the behavior generator 50, and the bullet31 brought in contact with the grooved bottom 41 is momentarily spacedapart from the grooved bottom by the behavior of the detent portion 40to relieve the static friction. As a result, the shift lever 20 can getout of the stuck or jammed state, and can be rotated to be moved to theposition of the normal state.

Meanwhile, the controller 70 determines whether elapsed time is longerthan a preset time stored therein when the position of the shift lever20 is fixed after the shift lever is rotated, and can determine whetherthe position of the shift lever 20 is in the normal state or in theabnormal state when the elapsed time is longer than the preset time.Herein, the preset time stored in the controller 70 may be set to 1second, and at the time when a driver manipulates the shift lever 20 andthe position of the shift lever 20 is fixed, if the elapsed time islonger than the preset time, the driver selects a specific gear range,and after determining the normal state or abnormal state at thecorresponding position, the movement of the behavior generator 50 iscontrolled, whereby unnecessary behavior of the behavior generator 50 isprevented.

Meanwhile, when it is determined that the position of the shift lever 20is in the abnormal state, the controller 70 operates the behaviorgenerator 50 and then checks whether the position of the shift lever 20is changed, and maintains operation of the behavior generator 50 whenthe position of the shift lever 20 is not changed.

In other words, when the behavior generator 50 is operated, the staticfriction force between the bullet 31 of the contact portion 30 and thegrooved bottom 41 of the detent portion 40 is relieved, and thus, theshift lever 20 can be normally rotated. However, since the temporaryfrictional force between the bullet 31 and the grooved bottom 41 may notbe relieved even by the temporary operation of the behavior generator50, the controller 70 checks whether the position of the shift lever 20is changed through the sensor 60 after operating the behavior generator50, and maintains operation of the behavior generator 50 when theposition of the shift lever 20 is not changed, thereby allowing theshift lever 20 to escape from the abnormal position.

Herein, when the position of the shift lever 20 is changed, thecontroller 70 controls the behavior generator 50 not to be operated,thereby preventing excessive behavior of the behavior generator 50, anddetermines whether the position of the shift lever 20 is in the normalstate or in the abnormal state, whereby whether the shift lever 20 isjammed or stuck is determined, so that the position control of the shiftlever 20 can be performed efficiently.

The jamming protection apparatus of the shift lever 20 for a vehicleconfigured as described above is configured such that during the shiftlever 20 operation, the shift lever 20 is prevented from being stoppedat an abnormal position by being stuck or jammed. Thus, the exact strokeof the shift lever 20 is performed such that the shifting is exactlyperformed to a desired gear range.

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendescribed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventionas disclosed in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a vehicle, the methodcomprising: detecting a position of a shift lever; determining whetherthe position of the shift lever is in a normal state or an abnormalstate; when the position of the shift lever is in the abnormal state,causing a detent portion of a housing to move relative to a contactportion of the shift lever in accordance with pre-stored position data;and when the position of the shift lever is in the normal state, leavingthe detent portion in place relative to the contact portion, the causingthe detent portion to move comprising contracting and expanding, in acontact direction of the contact portion, a behavior generatorphysically connected to the detent portion.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the position of the shift lever is detected a pre-determinedtime after the shift lever has been moved.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein it is determined whether the position of the shift lever is inthe normal state or in the abnormal state when the pre-determined timehas elapsed.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determiningwhether the position of the shift lever is in the normal state or in theabnormal state after causing the detent portion to move relative to thecontact portion in accordance with the pre-stored position data.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the causing the detent portion to movecomprises vibrating, in the contact direction of the contact portion,the behavior generator physically connected to the detent portion. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the detent portion to movecomprises momentarily spacing apart the detent portion and the contactportion from each other.
 7. A method of operating a vehicle, the methodcomprising: detecting a first position of a shift lever; determiningwhether the first position of the shift lever is in a normal state or anabnormal state; and in response to the first position of the shift leverbeing in the abnormal state, moving a detent portion of a housingrelative to a contact portion of the shift lever in accordance withpre-stored position data, the moving comprising vibrating, in a contactdirection of the contact portion, a behavior generator physicallyconnected to the detent portion.
 8. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising: detecting a second position of the shift lever, the secondposition being different from the first position; determining whetherthe second position of the shift lever is in the normal state or theabnormal state; and in response to the second position of the shiftlever being in the normal state, leaving the detent portion in placerelative to the contact portion in accordance with the second position.9. The method of claim 7, wherein the detecting comprises detecting thefirst position of the shift lever a pre-determined time after the shiftlever has been moved.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determiningcomprises determining whether the first position of the shift lever isin the normal state or in the abnormal state after the pre-determinedtime has elapsed.
 11. The method of claim 7, further comprising, afterthe moving the detent portion, second determining whether a currentposition of the shift lever is in the normal state or in the abnormalstate.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein the moving comprisescontracting and expanding, in the contact direction of the contactportion, the behavior generator physically connected to the detentportion.
 13. The method of claim 7, wherein the moving comprisesmomentarily spacing apart the detent portion and the contact portionfrom each other.
 14. A method of operating a vehicle, the methodcomprising: detecting a position of a shift lever; determining whetherthe position of the shift lever is in a normal state or an abnormalstate; in response to the position of the shift lever being in theabnormal state, moving a detent portion of a housing relative to acontact portion of the shift lever in accordance with pre-storedposition data; after the moving the detent portion, determining whetherthe position of the shift lever has changed; and in response to theposition of the shift lever not being changed, continuing the moving ofthe detent portion relative to the contact portion in accordance withthe pre-stored position data.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising: detecting a new position of the shift lever; determiningwhether the new position of the shift lever is in the normal state orthe abnormal state; and in response to the new position of the shiftlever being in the normal state, leaving the detent portion in placerelative to the contact portion in accordance with the new position. 16.The method of claim 14, wherein the detecting comprises detecting theposition of the shift lever a pre-determined time after the shift leverhas been moved.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the determiningcomprises determining whether the position of the shift lever is in thenormal state or in the abnormal state after the pre-determined time haselapsed.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the moving compriseslessening static friction between the detent portion and the contactportion.